spar

See also: SPAR, Spar, spař, spár, spär, and spår

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /spɑː/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
(US) IPA^(key): /spɑɹ/, [spɑɹ], [spɑ˞]
Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)
Homophone: spa (non-rhotic)

Etymology 1

From Middle English sparre (“spar, rafter, beam”) (noun), sparren (“to close, bar”) (verb), from Middle Dutch sparre or Middle Low German Sparre, all ultimately from Proto-Germanic *sparrô (“stake, beam”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)par- (“beam, log”). Compare Dutch spar (“balk”), German Sparren (“rafter, spar”), Danish sparre (“spar”), Albanian shparr, shpardh (“kind of oak”). Perhaps also compare spear.

Noun

spar (plural spars)

A rafter of a roof.
A thick pole or piece of wood.
(obsolete) A bar of wood used to fasten a door.
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto XI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
  The Prince staid not his aunswere to devize, / But, opening streight the Sparre, forth to him came […].
(nautical) Any linear object used as a mast, sprit, yard, boom, pole or gaff.
(aeronautics) A beam-like structural member that supports ribs in an aircraft wing or other airfoil.

Derived terms

Translations

rafter of a roof — see rafter

thick pole

Bulgarian: як прът m (jak prǎt), греда (bg) f (greda)
Finnish: parru (fi)
Maori: rākau whakapakoko
Middle English: sparre
Persian: شاهتیر (šāhtir)
Russian: столб (ru) m (stolb)
Spanish: poste (es) m

bar to fasten door

Czech: závora (cs) f
Finnish: telki (fi)
Spanish: tranca (es) f

nautical: linear object used as a mast, sprit, yard, boom, pole or gaff

Bulgarian: ранго́ут m (rangóut)
Czech: ráhno (cs) n, žerď (cs) f
Dutch: rondhout (nl) n
Finnish: pyöröpuu (fi)
German: Spiere f, Rundholz n
Irish: sparra m
Maori: rākau whakapakoko
Persian: دکل (fa) (dakal)
Russian: ранго́ут (ru) m (rangóut) (from Dutch "rondhout" - roundwood)

aeronautics: beam-like structural member

Finnish: siipisalko
French: longeron (fr) m
German: Holm (de), Flügelholm
Irish: croscheann sciatháin m
Russian: лонжеро́н крыла́ m (lonžerón krylá)
Spanish: larguero (es) m
Swedish: balk (sv), vingbalk

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Norman: ^{(please verify)} spèrre f (Jersey)

Verb

spar (third-person singular simple present spars, present participle sparring, simple past and past participle sparred)

(obsolete or dialectal) To bolt, bar.
- c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood, editor, John Skelton: The Complete English Poems, 1983, →OCLC, page 64, lines 91–94:
  The church dores were sparred,
  Fast boltyd and barryd,
  Yet wyth a prety gyn
  I fortuned to come in, […]
(transitive) To supply or equip (a vessel) with spars.

Derived terms

oversparred, undersparred

Etymology 2

From Middle English sparren (“to dart out; to strike out”), from Old English sperran, spirran, spyrran (“to strike, strike out at, spar”), related to Low German sparre (“a struggling, striving”), German sich sperren (“to struggle, resist, oppose”), Icelandic sperrast (“to kick out at, thrust, struggle”). The slang sense of friend is probably from the phrase sparring partner under the influence of the similar slang words par and star.

Verb

spar (third-person singular simple present spars, present participle sparring, simple past and past participle sparred)

To fight, especially as practice for martial arts or hand-to-hand combat.
- 2012 April 15, Phil McNulty, “Tottenham 1-5 Chelsea”, in BBC‎:
  After early sparring, Spurs started to take control as the interval approached and twice came close to taking the lead. Terry blocked Rafael van der Vaart's header on the line and the same player saw his cross strike the post after Adebayor was unable to apply a touch.
To strike with the feet or spurs, as cocks do.
To contest in words; to wrangle.

Translations

to fight, especially as practice for martial arts or hand-to-hand combat

Czech: trénovat (cs) impf, cvičit se impf
Dutch: sparren (nl)
Finnish: sparrata (fi)
Irish: speáráil
Italian: allenarsi al combattimento
Russian: спарринговать (ru) (sparringovatʹ), вести (ru) (vesti) тренировочный (ru) (trenirovočnyj) бой (ru) (boj)
Swedish: sparra

to argue

Czech: přít se impf, dohadovat se impf

Noun

spar (plural spars)

A sparring session; a preliminary fight, as in boxing or cock-fighting.
(MLE) A friend, a mate, a pal.
- 2002, “No Escape” (track 23), in It's All Happening Now‎, performed by Lewis Parker (musician), Klashnekoff, and Skriblah Dan Gogh:
  KLASHNEKOFF: I take two glass then pass the spliff to my spars.
- 2003, “Soap Bar”, in The Manifesto‎, performed by Goldie Looking Chain:
  'Ello clart! How are you doin' spar? Let's have a look at your mobile phone there, that's fuckin' posh, innit? […] that's fuckin' safe, spar!
- 2009 March 17, “Next Hype” (track 3), in All-Star Pars‎, performed by Tempa T:
  I don't care if you got friends in your car. Light up your whip and all of your spars.
- 2014 September 12, “September 12th”‎performed by S.Kalibre:
  Trying to explain to my spars how it is over a spliff. Arguing, cause the media got 'em locked under their lids.

Etymology 3

From Middle Low German spar, sper (“spar”); or from a backformation of sparstone (“spar”), from Middle English sparston (“gypsum, chalk”), from Old English spærstān (“gypsum”). Related to German Sparkalk (“plaster”), Old English spæren (“of plaster, of mortar”).

Noun

spar (countable and uncountable, plural spars)

(mineralogy) Any of various microcrystalline minerals, of light, translucent, or transparent appearance, which are easily cleft.
(mineralogy) Any crystal with readily discernible faces.

Derived terms

Descendants

→ Irish: sparra
→ Welsh: sbar

Translations

any crystal with readily discernible faces

Catalan: espat m
Finnish: sälpä (fi)
French: spath (fr) m
German: Spat (de) m
Irish: sparra m
Russian: шпат (ru) m (špat)
Spanish: espato m

Anagrams

APRs, Arps, PSRA, RAPs, arps, pars, raps, rasp, sapr-

Etymology 1

From Spanish espada (“sword”), from Latin spatha, from Ancient Greek σπάθη (spáthē, “blade”).

Noun

spar c (singular definite sparen, plural indefinite sparer)

spade (one of the black suits in a deck of cards)

Inflection

More information common gender, Singular ...

common gender	Singular		Plural
common gender	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	spar	sparen	sparer	sparerne
genitive	spars	sparens	sparers	sparernes

Close

Declension of spar

Etymology 2

See spare (“to save,spare”).

Verb

spar

imperative of spare

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /spɑr/
Audio: (file)
Hyphenation: spar
Rhymes: -ɑr

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch sparre (“pole, beam”), from Old Dutch *sparro, from Frankish *sparro, from Proto-Germanic *sparrô. Cognate to West Frisian spjir.

Noun

spar m (plural sparren, diminutive sparretje n)

spruce; certain tree of the family Pinaceae, especially of the genus Picea, but also used for trees of the genera Abies, Tsuga and Pseudotsuga

Derived terms

blauwspar
douglasspar
fijnspar
hemlockspar
Nordmannspar
zilverspar

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

spar

inflection of sparren:
1. first-person singular present indicative
2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
3. imperative

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ʃpaːɐ̯]
Audio: (file)

Verb

spar

singular imperative of sparen
(colloquial) first-person singular present of sparen

Etymology

Related to the verb spara (“to save”)